Dutch composer, guitarist and producer Guy Renardeau, known as The Blues Guy, has released his new album The Blues Guy & The SHADES OF BLUE, a seven-track contemporary blues record that brings together an international line-up of acclaimed vocalists and musicians.

Running at 26 minutes and 51 seconds, the album explores pain, love, resilience, ambition and self-expression through a sound that stretches beyond traditional blues, incorporating elements of rock, jazz, soul, R&B, ambient music and cinematic composition.

At the centre of the project is Renardeau, a Dutch music virtuoso based in Los Angeles whose career has moved between blues, rock and screen composition. A headliner at the international Jimi Hendrix Music Festival, he has worked as lead guitarist and songwriter for Gothic rock band Lemming and Guy Renardeau Stream, while performing alongside artists including DJ Kypski, Jimmy Grego of Lenny Kravitz, Scott Henderson, Hans Dulfer, Omar Dykes, Snowy White and Ten of Gotcha.

His work has also attracted recognition across the international music and film industries, with honours and recognition from organisations including the Hollywood Music in Media Awards, Hollywood Independent Music Awards, Clouzine Music Awards, International Sound and Film Crystal Pine, American Music Awards, Hollywood Songwriting Contest, FilmHaus Berlin, Lonely Wolf, Europe Movie Music Awards, Independent Filmmakers Showcase, Maverick Movie Awards, Global Music Awards, Toronto International Film Festival, Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival, EIMA Awards and World Entertainment Awards, alongside Emmy recognition.

A GRAMMY®-voting member, BAFTA and European Film Academy jury member, and World Soundtrack Awards Academy voting member, Renardeau brings that cinematic sensibility. The album was produced, engineered and largely performed by Renardeau at Apollo Recording & Film Studio, giving the record a cohesive musical identity despite its deliberately international cast.

That collaborative approach is central to the album. Rather than relying on a single vocalist or fixed interpretation of the blues, each track introduces a different artist, voice and perspective.

Award-winning singer-songwriter Glenda Benevides appears twice, opening the album with ‘Addicted to the Pain’ and returning for its closing track, ‘Love on My Mind’. Her blues and soul-influenced vocal style brings an emotional intensity to songs concerned with personal experience, relationships, empowerment and unity.

American singer-songwriter Class Vee also features on two tracks, ‘Nonsense’ and ‘Beautiful Words’. Drawing on contemporary pop and R&B alongside a touch of nostalgia, she brings an energetic and versatile character to both performances.

‘Harmonica Blues’ shifts the focus towards instrumental expression, with Polish harmonica virtuoso Łukasz ‘Wiśnia’ Wiśniewski joining Renardeau. Wiśniewski, the founder and frontman of Kraków Street Band and Hard Times, as well as the Łukasz Wiśniewski Trio, is known for his charismatic live performances and expressive harmonica playing. His professional career began in 2005 after he won first prize at the Bydgoszcz Harmonica Meeting, Poland’s major harmonica festival. He has since received two nominations for the Polish Fryderyk Awards and has established himself as both a performer and harmonica educator, as well as an endorser for JDR Harmonicas.

Canadian singer, songwriter and actor Melody McArthur, also known as Kristen McArthur, contributes the lyrics to ‘Heartache’s on Me’. The multi-award-winning artist from Northern Alberta has built a reputation for emotionally driven performances across music and theatre. She was formerly the lead in the touring musical Bear Grease, including its 2025 off-Broadway debut in New York, and is scheduled to appear in the world premiere of Rose at Canada’s National Arts Centre in 2026.

On ‘Watch Me Work’, Los Angeles-based Dutch-Indonesian soulwriter KIA Knoester brings alternative R&B and soul influences into Renardeau’s contemporary blues framework. Knoester’s songwriting has received recognition from the John Lennon Songwriting Contest and Howard Rosen Promotion Talent Search, while her collaboration with Adam Wilson, ‘Together’, won Best R&B/Soul at the Hollywood Independent Music Awards. She has also contributed to a Grammy-nominated album.

The result is a record that treats blues as a foundation rather than a boundary. Renardeau’s compositions and instrumental performances provide a consistent thread across all seven tracks, while the featured artists bring contrasting vocal styles, cultural backgrounds and emotional perspectives to the project.

The album begins with Benevides on ‘Addicted to the Pain’, before moving into the sharper contemporary feel of ‘Nonsense’. ‘Harmonica Blues’ puts Wiśniewski’s playing front and centre, while McArthur’s contribution to ‘Heartache’s on Me’ adds another deeply personal dimension. Knoester follows with ‘Watch Me Work’, Class Vee returns for ‘Beautiful Words’, and Benevides closes the record with ‘Love on My Mind’.

Rather than attempting to recreate a traditional blues formula, The Blues Guy & The SHADES OF BLUE: Colours in Your Mind uses the genre’s emotional vocabulary as a starting point for something broader. Across its seven songs, the album moves through vulnerability, ambition, heartbreak, confidence and connection, with Renardeau’s cinematic production providing the common ground between its diverse contributors.

With its international cast and cross-genre approach, the new album positions The Blues Guy as an artist interested not only in the history of blues, but in where the genre can go next.

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